beginning extreme couponing

I have begun to dabble in extreme couponing. I have always couponed, but never knew how to really use them to get great deals. Yes, the show Extreme Couponing on TLC did help open my eyes, but it also brought me to search the world of blogs and websites for couponing. Plus, another lady in my office does it as well so we share coupons :) I also ran into a lady at Cracker Barrel this weekend who gave me some pointers. She has been doing it for years!

I know what you are thinking - those people are crazy hoarders! But I am not a hoarder and well Michael would kill me if I did. But there is no reason not to stock up on stuff while they are cheap (like toilet paper, deodorant, soap, etc). Why not...you are going to use it eventually! 

I only buy stuff we need and/or will eat. Here is how I coupon - I buy about 4 papers every Saturday. If you wait till Sunday afternoon around me all papers are gone! I check a few websites periodically during the week - Southernsavers.com is my favorite. Really easy to read and navigate. I look at the local ads, add my Kroger coupons and see where the best deals are. Yesterday I did most of my shopping at Ingles. Spent overall about $40, saved almost $30. My goal is to save about half of my bill. I usually take Michael with me to do the math and keep track of where I am. He is really into it and encourages me (hell anything to save us money!) 

I will start posting about great deals I find. In yesterdays trip I was able to get free Nesquik (needed it for a cake) it was on sale for $1 and I had a dollar off coupon so it was free! and cheap laundry detergent. Michael is picky and prefers Purex (which is never cheap), but was on sale yesterday (2 for $5) and I had a coupon, $1 off one. So I was able to get them at $1.50 each (I only picked up 4). I went to Kroger and became subject to someone who cleaned the shelf of the free pasta! Jerk! Luckily there was still some pasta left, only fetticini, so I got 3 boxes of free fettinci. The pasta was on sale for $1 a piece and I had a $1 off coupon. And apparently so did everyone else. I still have some .50 off one coupons for that type of pasta so I will go back this week, cause hey .50 pasta is still good. You can never have enough pasta. 

A couple weeks ago I was able to get .19 deodorant for Michael (a mix of a coupon and bogo at Kroger) and like.40 cent dish soap. I got paid for razors at Walgreens :) 

What are your tips and/or secrets to couponing?